But one of the most important things I did in high school, was play a team sport.
I was on the tennis team from ninth grade through graduation, and though I could barely hold a racquet when I first started, by the time I graduated, I lettered and had received, albeit small, an athletic scholarship to college. It was awesome being on a team: it gave me an opportunity to exercise, an abundance of school spirit, and a real sense of belonging. So of course I've always imagined that our children would participate in school sports, as well. However, I've found it is a lot more challenging to make it on a school team these days.
In middle school, Carolyn was on the school golf team for a day. She was very excited, until the coach realized she had no idea how to play and informed her that the team wasn't a place to learn. Thinking back to my high school experience - I didn't have any idea what I was doing, either, but that didn't stop the coach from accepting me.
For kids to be on a team in this day and age - particularly at these humongous Texas schools where there are 1500 kids in a single grade and 800 of them are trying out for soccer - you need to have skills. The kind of mad skills that are developed when you learn to walk and dribble a ball, concurrently. And so it is, those two seasons of playing soccer at the YMCA did not position our children well for a spot on the high school soccer team; particularly when they're trying out against kids who have been playing for 12-years. And they're only 14.
Nonetheless, I've never given up hope that our kids would find a sport that they enjoyed and ultimately, find their way on to a team. For several years, we exposed the kids to all kinds of sporting events, and I'd always put them on the same team because it made life easier for us to drive four kids to one place, instead of four kids to four places. Truth be told, I'd also been holding hope that they'd all be interested and pursue the same sport. Alas, they are evolving in to people that all have their own unique passions and pursuits.
Imagine that?
I'm happy to report that despite being interested in four vastly different sports - the kids are finding their way on to various teams, and are doing great. The rest of this post is to capture for posterity how things are transpiring in the athletic department; from youngest to oldest.
HENRY: After changing his name from Henry to Ricardo a few years ago, I really thought that soccer might be his thing. But then his friend, Juan Miguel, moved to a new team and Henry lost interest and along with his brother, picked up baseball for a season. He really enjoyed playing ball, but I was not keen on the games that would last until 10:30 at night; or be at a field 30 miles from the house. I'm pretty strict about not traveling beyond a 20-mile radius from our house for games.
Recently, Henry has expressed a strong interest in playing tennis which was quite exciting for both Charlie and I; since our romance blossomed on a university tennis court where we were playing each other for an intramural championship.
To nurture his interest in the sport - Charlie has been committed to finding Henry a good tennis instructor. One of our neighbors recommended a coach that has been teaching her daughter, so Charlie looked him up on line - and called to schedule an appointment.
(Photo of William & Henry playing a game of doubles tennis, circa 2011. My babies!)
The good news, the coach sounded fantastic and has plenty of space available in the class. The bad news, Charlie called the wrong guy and he's actually located in Georgia. Reminder, we're in Texas. It turns out the Texas tennis academy is full - but we're on the waitlist.
Glad we figured all that out before he registered and sent in a downpayment.
CAROLYN: For the past year, Carolyn has been on the rowing team. Rowing is not an easy sport. Just ask Charlie who went with Carolyn one day last month and spent the better part of two hours, rowing a scull with huge pontoons on the sides to prevent him from capsizing, around in a circle because he couldn't get the form down. To hear him tell it, "I thought it'd be super easy! I mean, how difficult can it be to ROW A BOAT?" Apparently, it can be very difficult and that tiny little seat that slides to and fro can do a real number on your backside.
Carolyn, however, has found her groove and is quite good at rowing. She practices for approximately 17 hours a week; three hours a day Monday through Thursday, two hours on Friday, and another three hours on Saturday morning. Her ability to train so extensively is made possible by a school day that starts at 7:15 AM and because she is in "private / offsite PE" is home every day by 1:00. That gives her a nice cushion of time to do her homework - or more commonly, read "The Fault in our Stars" for the umpteenth time, before she goes to practice in the afternoon.
She was recently promoted to the "competitive" rowing team, which means we will be traveling to regattas far and wide, throughout the southern and mid-western United States. Next month, we'll be in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and two weeks later, we'll be in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Yep. So much for my 20-mile radius rule.
ELIZABETH: Before she took her first breath, Elizabeth has been on the move. She was the baby that notoriously flip flopped in-utero, baffling the ultrasound technicians that kept counting four fetuses. "See, there's baby D!" And then they'd count again - and sure enough, there were four heads. Until the day I delivered, I wasn't entirely convinced that there would "only" be triplets. She was first to crawl, walk, and run. And once she started running, she's never stopped.
Liz ran on an elementary school team, middle and junior high school team, and is now on the high school cross country and track team. Last year, she took up pole vaulting, and separately, won the 4x400 district championships as the anchor for her team. This summer, within the first week of training, she was running with the varsity team. But those daily nine mile jaunts strained her and she's been in PT for the past six weeks while recovering from stress reactions in both legs. Her orthopedist has told her that she'll be back out running in no time. But in the mean time, I'm glad that she is getting the instruction that she needs to improve her form and hopefully, prevent further injury.
I'm seriously not sure where she gets her stamina, because I'm not encouraging her .... which is very sad, but very true. When she first told me that she made the cross country team, I think my exact response was, "Congratulations!" Followed by, "UGH! Why would you EVER want to run in Texas heat?" When I recently found out that she was injured and out for two months with her injury, my reaction was something like, "Wow! Now you can sleep in! Woot! Woot!"
But uh, no. She's still up at 5:30 AM every morning to be with her team, even if it means standing on the sidelines while they run past. Her dedication is amazing.
WILLIAM: William really has incredible coordination and has tried everything from gymnastics to lacrosse. At various times, he's been on a swim team - dive team - soccer team - and baseball team. But he hasn't stuck with anything long enough to really excel; which is largely my fault. The fact is, I'm not the most "participatory" parent when games are far away, or play long in to the night (or require a wake-up while it's still dark outside). If it's not obvious, I just don't possess the same level of energy or athletic commitment as some parents do.
As a result, whenever I've talked with William about what sport he'd like to play in high school, he's always said, none. It's not that he didn't want to play a sport - I think it's that he was lacking the confidence to try; and a push from his mother. So a few weeks ago, once I heard that practices were immediately after school and wouldn't interfere with our sleep schedule, I reached out to the swim coach at the high school and asked if William could try out for the swim team.
He said "YES." But then he told me that William would need to swim 5 x 200 meter lengths on a 3:00 minute interval. Or rather, 1000 meters in 15 minutes or less. This sounded like a daunting task. So I wrote back to tell the coach first and foremost - thank you for the opportunity. But then I was reminded of Carolyn and her golf experience, and I launched in to a diatribe that EVERY CHILD should have the opportunity to play a school sport and I'd never played tennis until high school, and yet - learned to play with the school team and ultimately, earned a tennis scholarship to college.
So what if he couldn't swim 1000 meters in 15 minutes? What if he did it in 15:05? Or 15:30 ... or 20:00? ARE ALL HOPES DASHED?
I wrote some other things about the important influence that school sports teams have on helping nurture and grow a child's confidence, and the coach kindly responded with a brief response of, "Let's have him try out and we'll see things where stand." Which I think is code for, "Chill out, Mama."
(Photo of William & Elizabeth on first day of swim team. Sigh. Where did those days go?)
Long story short, William made the team by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin. He now swims with the team five days a week, for two hours a day, and is suddenly eating an unfathomable amount of food and literally changing before my very eyes. It's the darnedest thing to see a kid one day, and look at them the next and realize that they have GROWN overnight. But the biggest change I've observed has been in his disposition.
For as long as I live, I will forever remember the day that he made the high school swim team. He was so infused with courage that our extremely shy and reserved son came home and promptly asked a girl to homecoming. She said no, but he didn't miss a beat and told me, "Eh, I'm not discouraged. You should see all the really cute girls on the dive team ... there's hope yet!"
Indeed, there is.
This is just the beginning!
